


Colors in the Dark

by buckychrist



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Just fucking angst, soulmate!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 18:16:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17027604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckychrist/pseuds/buckychrist
Summary: The world is without color, and that’s never bothered the Winter Soldier. The Fist of HYDRA didn’t have time for love and soulmates. At almost a century old, what are the odds that his soulmate was even still living?





	Colors in the Dark

The mission. Extract. Eliminate.

Piece of cake.

The silver stained sky was clear that day, not a single cloud to be seen for miles. The afternoon traffic was light as the Hummer raced down the highway, easily going over eighty miles per hour as it weaved through the beginnings of the afternoon rush, but he still rode on the hood, a simple hand holding onto the bar on the roof of the car. The SUV raced passed pewter and charcoal colored vehicles, choruses of horns filling the air. They had their sights set on one, the one they were now catching up to. They easily pulled up behind it, and he was satisfied to see that no one in the car appeared to notice his arrival.

He jumped onto the hood of the car as if it weren’t going at least sixty miles per hour. Strands of his hair were whipping every which way, but it didn’t distract him. Nothing ever did. The shattering glass from his fist did nothing to faze him as he pulled out the little man from the car, throwing him to the side like he was nothing. An oncoming truck finished the job for him. It was almost too easy.

That’s one.

Before he could shoot no more than maybe seven bullets through the roof, the car came to a screeching halt, sending him flying through the air. It was almost graceful how easily he rolled back over, his knees and metal arm scraping against the asphalt to stop him from skidding. Through the windshield, he could read the fear in the four pairs of eyes that stared back at him.

So he had a little resistance.

Nothing he hadn’t dealt with before.

Pulling his hand from the road, which was now lined with indents from his fingers, he watched as the large Hummer with his crew inside slammed into his target car, sending them screeching down the road, towards him. He waited until the perfect moment before flipping into the air, right back onto the roof of this car. His boots kicked the back windshield, breaking the glass.

He got up on his knees, shoving his fist through the front windshield and ripping out the steering wheel, like taking candy from a baby.

“SHIT!” A voice from inside the car shouted, as bullets began to blow through the roof. It didn’t deter him though, as he just hopped onto the front of the Hummer behind them, gripping onto the top so he wouldn’t fly off. It was satisfying to watch the targets fly out of the car before it flipped through the air. It was a rare day that he actually had to fight to complete a mission. He ate it up. Sometimes it was all too easy. He loved a good challenge.

The Hummer came to a stop, and he jumped off. The crew began to walk out, one member handing him a bazooka as he walked by. His fingers wrapped around it in familiarity. Not often was it that he got to use it, but he relished every time he did. He took aim and fired, hitting a porpoise colored circle of metal and sending the two targets behind it flying off the bridge. One of them flew into a bus passing underneath the bridge, overturning it. However the other didn’t do at all what he had wanted them to do, instead disappearing and rematerializing safely on the ground.

His eyes narrowed as he recalled the details of the mission. Only three targets were mentioned. Then where the fuck did this forth one come from?

He took aim, but before he could pull the trigger, multiple bullets ricocheted off his metal arm. When he turned, the female with the smoky colored hair was running from him, her arm behind her as she haphazardly shot at him. Instinctively, he began moving towards her, his team already firing at her while he was aiming his gun once more. Firing once, the ammo flew and blew up a car as the female target hopped the barrier and began to run, rolling over the hoods of cars and dodging traffic in an attempt to escape. He shot again, throwing a car and the woman over the side of the bridge. Rushing to the edge of the bridge, he looked over the barrier.

A quick scan of the road below showed no movement from his four remaining targets. But he wasn’t worried. They all came out eventually.

A bullet pierced his goggles, jerking his head backwards. Dropping to the ground, his back fell into the concrete barrier. His hand slowly reached up, whipping off the eyewear and throwing them to the side. Maybe this wouldn’t be as easy as he originally had thought. But he wouldn’t fail.

He couldn’t.

He was the Asset, the Soldat. The New Fist of HYDRA.

He wasn’t allowed to fail.

Shooting upward, he pointed his gun down and held down the trigger, aiming at what appeared to be nothing until bullets came flying at him from the other side of an abandoned fire truck. The female target. He pointed the machine gun at her, returning fire. When she ran out of bullets, she turned and fled.

“I have her,” He said to his crew in Russian. “Find him.” Without hesitation, he jumped down and landed on a car below so gracefully, it was like he landed on a flat surface. The hood of the car crunched under his feet, the glass from both front and back windows shattering and littering the ground around it with shards, but he stepped off from it with a casual stride that told bystanders that he has done this before. His posse followed him down to ground level, opting to use grappling hooks as opposed to the method of their headman.

He began to walk in the direction that the woman had escaped to. The world was still, the streets now cleared of all life, as everyone had either run away or they were hiding in whatever spot they could find. With gun up, ready to fire on a seconds notice, he scanned the area as he made slow steps. Suddenly, he was flung through the air, his body slamming almost a hundred feet away into the concrete of a parking lot filled with cars. When he stood up, he saw the receding back of another figure.

You had returned.

Gun raised, he charged towards you, sending a spray of ammunition in your direction. A field of energy rose around you, deflecting the bullets. His eyebrows furrowed together as he continued to shoot at you, but it was useless. Whatever sorcery it was that you were using, it was impossible to break through with this type of weaponry. Dropping the barrel of his gun down, he charged after you at a speed that wasn’t considered normal. His footsteps grew louder and louder in your ears. Just before he could reach you, his fingertips brushing your shirt, you vanished in thin air. He stopped dead, whipping his head around in all directions, looking for you. Too preoccupied with his confusion, he didn’t notice the entire person who rematerialized just above him. You flew down, wrapping your thighs around his head before taking him to the ground. The two of you let out your own loud grunts as you landed. His reaction was immediate, grabbing you and throwing you away from him.

He stood again, only to be attacked by the female target from before. She flew out of nowhere, kicking him before wrapping herself around him like a boa constrictor. Within seconds, she had a wire pressed to his neck. Stumbling backwards as he tried to jerk it away, he slammed the woman into a car before grabbing her and flipping her into a car in front of them. She fell to the ground, but that didn’t stop her from grabbing a gadget and flinging it at him. It attached to his metal limb, disabling his arm for a few seconds. The pain radiated through him as he grabbed the device and yanked it off, discarding it to the side. Slowly, he regained feeling.

With help from her device, she was able to get a far distance from him. But not far enough. He raised his gun and with marksmen’s precision, he fired, hitting her in the shoulder. He watched her collapse, his face unchanged as he made his way towards her. Although he couldn’t see her, he knew she didn’t go far.

His steps were slow but calculated. People jumped from their cars in alarm, screaming and running, but he paid them no mind. As long as none of them got in his way, there was no need to harm them. The pearl colored leaves waved in the wind, but other than that slight movement, the area became still. He even held his breath to listen for any stray noise that could be his target.

And then he saw a head of ashy hair, and he knew he had her. Eye squeezed shut, he trained the barrel of his gun at the back of her head.

“NATASHA!”

He looked from the target to see you sprinting towards him at a speed that could match his own. You jumped up, kicking him in the side and sending him flying down the street. The sound of you hitting the ground and rolling hit his ears from a distance. Scrambling to stand, he jumped up and came back towards you. But you didn’t back down, instead storming right back at him.

Grabbing the machine gun that he had dropped a long time ago, he started spraying bullets. They sped towards you, but with just a raise of your hand, they stopped mid air. His eyebrows met his hairline as the bullets turned, now facing him. A smirk crossed your face as you dropped your hand. Instantaneously, the they began to whiz towards him. Throwing his metal arm in front of him, he was miraculously able to deflect them all.

He ran at you, throwing the gun to the side. You didn’t react in time to stop him from grabbing you and throwing you into a car. The annoyance seeping through him was indescribable, especially when you stood back up as if you didn’t just leave a boulder sized indent in the automobile.

Suddenly, he became aware of the knife in his pocket. You jumped backward when he swung at you, knife clenched in his fist. He swung again, just narrowly missing the tip of your nose. Right as you tried to grab his arm, he flipped the knife and caught it in his other hand before thrusting it at you once more. The blade caught your shirt, ripping a hole in it as you almost fell into him to keep it from hitting your side. He threw his arm up once more, wrenching it back down. But instead of contact with your head, it went right through you, as if you were suddenly a ghost. As his eyebrows furrowed together, you smirked again.

Swiping your leg underneath his, he fell to the ground. A loud grunt could be heard through his mask as his back collided with the asphalt. Within seconds, you were on top of him, your once again solid hands curled around his fists as you attempted to pry the knife from his hands. He could feel your strength growing, stronger and stronger, and he found himself wondering what sort of power it was you wielded. With his free hand, he grabbed your arm and rolled over so he was now i control. Placing his legs on either side of you to trap your arms, he raised his knife and looked down into your fear stricken eyes.

And then it happened.

It was like a switch had been flipped.

With a blink, the black and white world disappeared, and everything flooded with color.

His hands dropped down.

Your ashen skin was now pigmented, the charcoal color of your eyes gone, now lively and vibrant. When he looked up at the surrounding scenery, he felt his breath hitch in his throat. Yellows, reds, blues and all shades in between filled the world. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would know what the color blue looked like, but now he was staring at the sky, the strikingly bright sky that was a color he had only heard the other members of HYDRA describe, and he almost couldn’t look away, but he had to. There was too much to take in. He looked at the mocha colored bricks on buildings. The bright shamrock colored grass that covered the ground. In the distance, he could see an American flag, brilliant red and blue flapping in the wind.

Without warning, you threw him off, sending him crash landing a few yards away. When he stood, you were staring at him with wide, fear filled eyes.

“No,” You mumbled, looking around at the rich new world you were also experiencing with him. When you looked back at him, he noticed your trembling lip. “What the fuck? No!” Despite his best efforts, he could feel his body start to shake as well.

Echoing through the back of his mind, he could hear Alexander Pierce’s voice.

“It must be like living in the 30’s with their black and white TV’s.” Pierce’s voice was sinister, mocking. The Asset could feel the metal of the cuffs on his wrists despite it just being a memory. “You must feel right at home. It’s perfect for us.” He could still see Pierce kneeling down in front of him with a cruel, playful smile on his face. “Colors are only a distraction anyway.”

He looked back up at you, a tree with bold, flowing greens as your backdrop. He had been trained on many combat scenarios, the event of the fall of HYDRA, Pierce’s death, and even his own. But never had he ever even dreamt of a moment like this one. He looked down at the knife in his hand, the black of the gun he had dropped appearing in the corner of his eye.

Before, it was all automatic. His missions, his kills. When he received a job, he did it without hesitation or question. It was all he had, all he knew how to do. And he knew better than to go against his superiors, not that the thought had ever really crossed his mind. HYDRA was a temporary fill to a void he couldn’t quite understand. While they brought him much pain and darkness, he knew he didn’t have anything to return to in the world. Not only did he not have any memories of the man he used to be, but even if he did remember them, the loved ones he once had were more than likely all dead. In some strange, paradoxical way, HYDRA had given him a second chance while simultaneously taking away his first one.

Until now.

His foot took one step forward, and suddenly he was thrown to the side. Something flipped inside of him as he turned to his attacker, the male target. He was wielding a shield, boldly painted red and blue. It still struck him that he was seeing colors. Shaking his head, he refocused. Pierce was right. Colors were a distraction.

The man went to hit him with his shield, but the Asset slammed his fist in the middle. The rumbling noise that it made on contact was deafening as the two metals reacted to each other. Remembering the weapons he had in his jacket, he whipped out a mini machine gun, pointing it at the target and holding down the trigger. The blonde used his shield to deflect, running around a parked car for protection. The bullets pierced the windows and the metal doors. The Asset backed up as the man hopped over the car, kicking the gun from his hands. He pulled out another, a handgun this time, pointing it at the man and rapid firing.

“STEVE!” A voice called out as his fist made contact with the Asset’s face. His head flew back, but he held his stance, quickly returning the punch. His hands gripped the shield and he flipped it, taking the owner with him and pulling the shield from his grasp. With a single hit from the vibranium, he sent the target flying backward. When the man stood back up, he charged. Flinging it with all his might, the shield flew through the air and broke through the door of a vacant van.

The two of them blurred together as they fought, arms thrown and punches dodged. The Asset pulled his knife out once more, using it against his target. The man jumped in the air, spinning and kicking him backwards into a car. He felt the dent that he left as he pushed himself away, but it was only mere seconds that had passed before the man was back, shoving him into the door and breaking the passenger side window. The Asset punched him, flipped onto his back a moment later. He was back on his feet instantaneously, the man’s throat locked in his grip. He was thrown backward without warning, looking up to see your hands up. He had been so lost in his fight that he had forgotten that you were there. And suddenly he remembered the color conundrum. He stood, looking between you and the man called Steve, who charged at him once more.

Knife in fist, the Asset pushed him into a car, just missing his head with his blade as it sliced into the door. Suddenly, he was being pushed to the side, the knife leaving a trail behind it before they reached the end and the man escaped his hold, throwing him backwards. When the Asset stood again, his target was wielding his shield once again. He charged once more, sending a fist flying towards the man’s face. He avoided it, hitting him in the arm with his shield. Something about the metal of his arm and the shield made them attract like magnets, sticking the two men together. The shield was suddenly pulled away from his arm, flying into the Asset’s face. His head flew backward, and the man caught it, his palm holding the mask. He threw him, sending him flipping through the air. The asset could feel the mask leave his face before he hit the ground, rolling back up to his feet.

When he turned, the target stood up straighter. A new sort of tension filled the air, one that the Asset didn’t understand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you snap your head into the male target’s direction.

“Bucky?” The man asked. A new wave of confusion hit the Asset head on at the single worded sentence.

“Who the hell is Bucky?” He asked, his feet beginning to move. A sound from above made him turn around, and just before the second male target collided into him, he was pushed out of the way. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, his body felt into the hard ground. When he looked up, there you were, holding him down.

“You need to stop,” You said in a soft voice. It was like his senses were amped to eleven. Everything seemed to be even brighter as he stared up at you. With a shaky hand, you carefully brushed your fingers across his forehead, pushing away the loose strands of hair that had been sticking from the sweat. “We can help you.”

He looked up at the bold blue of the sky, a sight he never thought he would experience. The idea of a colorful world was never one he considered in seventy years. But now he had it, and it was so enticing.

An explosion next to him brought him back to reality. This wasn’t who he was. He wasn’t made for soulmates and love. He was the Fist of HYDRA. He didn’t need any of those silly little things.

Shoving you hard off of him, he stood up and ran before the smoked cleared. Despite everything, he had to fight the urge to turn around and look back at you. Even still, with the change of perspective he had been given, the whole journey back to the hidden HYDRA compound had a new found allure to it.

_________________________________________

“He’s unstable. Erratic.”

The words bounced off the walls, but he ignored them as he stared straight ahead. The way his chest heaved was enough to keep everyone a safe distance away. No one wanted to get attacked like the first man. The barred door rumbled open and in walked Pierce, along with some of his men. With a raise of Pierce’s hands, the guns that were pointed at the Asset were now dropped. He didn’t look at them as they stopped in front of him, continuing to stare at the wall.

“Mission report,” Pierce said in a firm, demanding voice. But he remained silent.

Visions of a train danced through his memory. The sound of a scream. Being pulled through red stained snow, now that he could see it in color. Somehow even his memories were now in technicolor, as if the black and white world he had always known was just a hazy dream.

“Mission report. Now,” Pierce demanded, interrupting his thoughts, but he continued to stay quiet. Now he could hear your soft voice running through his mind.

_We can help you._

A rush of pain filled his chest. You were just a stranger to him, a part of a mission, and he was a threat, a weapon that had a bullet with your name on it. But somehow, despite everything, all it took was a wave of color for you to want to help him. Even protect him. And it was this same change in him that almost made him want to let you.

That mixed with the man. A man who looked so god damn familiar but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. The man who clearly knew him, or thought he did. Bucky? What kind of name is Bucky? There was something about the way it rang through his mind that confused him even further. Like it was a name he had heard before.

Pierce’s hand made contact with his face. A loud, involuntary grunt left his mouth as his head flung to the side. Pierce’s face was hard as he stared at the Asset, a silent order for an answer. The Asset brought his face back up, ignoring the stinging in his cheek.

“The man on the bridge,” He said, looking back at Pierce. “Who was he?” Although the look on his face didn’t change, something flashed through Pierce’s eyes that the Asset didn’t fail to miss. He looked up and down a couple of times before responding.

“You met him earlier this week on another assignment,” Pierce explained, his voice trailing off slightly. The Asset’s eyes fell to the floor.

“I knew him,” He mumbled. Pierce pulled out a stool, sitting down in front of the weapon he had a hand in creating.

“Your work has been a gift to mankind,” He told him. “You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time.” The Asset sat up straighter, staring at Pierce through the strands of hair that fell in front of his face. “Society’s at a tipping point between order and chaos. And tomorrow morning, we’re gonna give it a push.” He paused. “But if you don’t do your part, I can’t do mine. And HYDRA can’t give the world the freedom it deserves.”

The Asset took in every word that Pierce said, but none of it processed. All he could really hear was the echoing of your voice, and the face of the man he once knew.

“But I knew him,” He said, pressing his lips together as he fought the emotions filling his chest. Pierce sighed deeply, before standing up and turning away from him.

“Prep him,” He said to the scientists who had been waiting a few feet away. They all had a look of concern on their faces.

“He’s been out of cyrofreeze too long-”

“And the girl.”

They all froze, turning to stare at him. Pierce looked surprised and angered by the interruption, and with good reason. He didn’t train The Asset to be rude. At least not to him. And he was already being more outlandish than usual.

“Natasha Romanoff, I think you know everything you need-”

“No.” It came out more strangled than he had intended it to. Pierce’s eyes narrowed slightly as the Asset swallowed hard. “The other one.”

“Ahhh yes,” Pierce said, looking up towards the ceiling as he recalled what he had read about you. “Superior reactive adaptation. An experiment by the KGB. Powerful, powerful girl. A dream weapon.” He shook his head in awe, before pausing and looking back at the Asset. “Why do you ask?” With pursed lips, he returned Pierce’s gaze.

“I see colors now,” He said in a voice just above a whisper. The color drained from Pierce’s face, and the Asset knew right away that he had made a mistake. All of the men grew tense as they turned to stare at Pierce. He was still for awhile as he took in the new problem at hand. Finally, he turned back towards the scientists.

“Wipe him and start over,” He barked before storming out of the room. Almost immediately, the Asset was pushed back into the machine. Fear overcame him as he stared at the ceiling, his breathing picking up speed as his fingers began to shake. As the machine began to whir to life, the mouthpiece was shoved between his teeth. Once the shackles snapped around his arms, that’s when he really began to panic. The head piece surrounded him, before clasping to either side of his head.

Shockwaves were sent through his entire body, radiating so much pain that he began to scream, the sounds echoing down the hallways. He fought the effects of it, replaying the sound of your voice over and over to hide the sound of his shouts from himself. But it was too much, and fighting it was a futile attempt.

As the sound of your tender voice faded from his memories, he watched as the colors of the world went with it, sending the room back into the familiar black and white that, for the longest time, he thought he would never escape. And just before he was completely clean slated, he realized he was right.


End file.
